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As coaches around the NFL were being fired left and right on Black Monday, rumblings began that Urban Meyer was the top candidate for the Jaguars’ vacancy after Jacksonville fired Doug Marrone. ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio even went as far as to report that “the Jaguars’ head-coaching job will go to Meyer, if he wants it.”
As for what may lure Meyer to Jacksonville is pretty simple: money, and a lot of it.
Florio claimed that his sources were telling him that Meyer was looking for $12 million, but NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport isn’t buying it. Rapoport tweeted on Tuesday morning that the notion that Meyer was seeking $12 million was “not relevant and false.”
Rapoport should just @ ProFootballTalk next time because it was definitely a shot at Florio.
The notion that Urban Meyer is seeking $12M a year to coach in the NFL is not accurate, source said. I’m sure the former Florida and OSU coach will be well compensated if he becomes the #Jaguars coach. But that number is not relevant and false.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 5, 2021
Florio went ahead and quote-tweeted Rapoport’s tweet calling him out for being an employee of NFL.com essentially covering up the notion that Meyer is after major bucks.
Owners don’t want entry level coaches making a ton of money. So it’s not shocking that the league-owned media conglomerate would try to shoot down the notion that Urban Meyer wants an amount that is entirely fair and appropriate for him. https://t.co/C34um2qMUE
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 5, 2021
There is only one head coach in the NFL that made $12 million in 2020 and his name is Bill Belichick. Seattle’s Pete Carroll is second on that list making $11 million per year.
Handing the keys to the Jaguars to Meyer, who has zero experience coaching in the NFL, and paying him $12 million seems like a risk, even with his impressive résumé. Jacksonville does have the most important piece of this rumored puzzle, however, which is this year’s first-overall pick and the first shot at drafting either Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.
You have to assume Meyer is at least somewhat intrigued by the idea of taking the job in Jacksonville and getting a huge spark in a rebuild in the form of Lawrence or Fields. The Jags are many pieces away from returning to the AFC Championship game as they did back in 2017, but adding Meyer and a new franchise quarterback would get things off to a very quick start.
Meyer has not coached since 2018 when was in charge of Ohio State.